A $1.65 billion war chest for Solana is now live in public markets. Forward Industries (NASDAQ: FORD) closed one of the largest PIPE financings in crypto to date—funded entirely in cash and stablecoins—to establish what sponsors call “the world’s largest Solana digital asset treasury strategy,” with proceeds earmarked primarily to purchase SOL and then actively deploy it across staking, lending and other on-chain strategies.
The deal was led by Galaxy Digital, Jump Crypto and Multicoin Capital; the trio collectively subscribed for more than $300 million. As part of the transaction, Multicoin’s Kyle Samani was appointed chairman of Forward’s board, while Galaxy President/CIO Chris Ferraro and Jump Crypto CIO Saurabh Sharma joined as board observers.
Forward’s release mirrors that ambition: “By establishing a Solana treasury, Forward Industries is positioning itself to benefit from one of the fastest-growing blockchain networks… through staking, lending, and market making strategies.”
Two execution variables will shape market impact. First is purchase routing: as PIPE proceeds are converted to SOL via a mix of OTC and exchange execution, the cadence and venue choice will determine how much pressure reaches visible spot books versus being absorbed bilaterally.
Second is inventory utilization: staking raises headline yields but reduces liquid float; lending and market-making recycle inventory into liquidity pools, affecting borrow rates, basis and depth around key levels. In all cases, a capitalized, mandate-driven public-company buyer represents a durable incremental bid for SOL—one that tends to register first in derivatives funding, borrow and staking-rate regimes before settling into spot.
Early Friday morning, Lookonchain added: “Galaxy Digital just bought another 706,790 SOL($160M). In the past 24 hours, their total buy has been a massive 2,159,182 SOL($486M).” Market reaction has been quick. SOL is up about 6% over the past 24 hours, leading major caps on the day at press time.
